DURHAM - Duke University administrators appear to have based their response to rape accusations against lacrosse players on a cell phone conversation overheard on a hospital loading dock.

An internal report filed by a Duke police officer March 14, shortly after a woman told emergency room workers she was raped, says the accuser initially said she was attacked by 20 men before changing it to three men.

It also indicates that city police were skeptical that a serious crime had occurred, though it does not say which Durham officer made that assessment.

City Manager Patrick Baker said Tuesday that the Duke police report is based on what a campus police officer overheard a low-ranking Durham officer say on a cell phone early that morning outside Duke Hospital. The criminal investigation has been handled by Durham police.

"Their officer did not speak to our officer," Baker said. "He appears to have overheard half a conversation, and he didn't follow up."

Duke released the March 14 campus police report Tuesday. That came a day after a study found that Duke administrators were slow to act because their initial internal police report indicated Durham officers had said only misdemeanor charges were likely.

Baker, who spoke with police officials Tuesday about the chain of events, bristled at the implication that city officers did not believe the accuser. He said that the incident was classified as a sexual assault about 30 minutes after the woman arrived at the hospital and that investigators were quickly put on the case.

"Any assertion that the Durham Police Department didn't take this case seriously or indicated that it would blow over is completely contradicted by the facts and our actions," Baker said.

Baker said he has never received any indication that the woman said she was raped by 20 men or that she changed her story.

"I have no idea where that came from," Baker said. "I've had a lot of conversations with the investigators in this case and with officials at Duke, and at no time did anyone indicate the accuser changed her story. If that were true, I'm sure someone would have mentioned it to me."

Meanwhile, defense lawyers for the two lacrosse players arrested last month on rape and kidnapping charges said the Duke police report will help their case.

"The prosecuting witness has given a number of versions of what happened," said Wade Smith, an attorney for accused player Collin Finnerty. "It seems to me that this is an important moment in the case."

District Attorney Mike Nifong has declined to discuss the Duke report.

The one-page form says the woman, an escort-service dancer hired to perform at a team party that began March 13, was taken to the emergency room about 3 a.m. the next day by Durham police. It is the policy of The News & Observer not to disclose the names of those who report they were sexually assaulted.

Form's assertion

Signed by Christopher H. Day, a Duke University police officer, the form says the accuser "was claiming that she was raped by approximately 20 white males" at 610 N. Buchanan Blvd.

While Lt. J.O. Best of the Duke police department stayed at the emergency room, Day and two other campus officers went to the Buchanan Boulevard house, which was shared by three team captains and was the site of the party. When no one answered the door, the officers took note of the student vehicles parked outside.

The report goes on to say the "victim changed her story several times, and eventually Durham police stated that charges would not exceed misdemeanor simple assault against the occupants of 610 Buchanan."

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